COLUMBUS, Ohio — One of the concerns coach John Tortorella expressed about tweaking the Blue Jackets’ system this season was that the push to create more offense would leave them vulnerable to mistakes on the back end.
Last season, when the Jackets were keeping a “third guy high” in the zone, they were one of the best defensive clubs in the NHL. They’d go entire games — hell, they’d go weeks — without giving up a breakaway or an odd-man rush.
But in the first two games of the season, including Saturday’s 5-2 loss to Nashville, the barn door has been left wide open.
Three of the Predators goals Saturday — the one that gave them a 2-1 lead, and the pile-on fourth and fifth goals late in the game — were either defensive lapses off the rush that led to prime scoring chances, or breakdowns farther up the ice that led to odd-man rushes.
In fact, of the seven goals the Predators have scored…
